In New York, if a person is formally arrested, they can be searched incident to that arrest. However, can the officer also search a person if the person could have been arrested but the officer decides to issue that person an appearance ticket on scene instead? The answer is “sometimes.”…
With Limited Exceptions, When the Defendant is a Natural Person, Appearance Tickets Must be Served Personally [CPL 150.40(2)] Generally, under New York law, other than an appearance ticket issued for a traffic infraction relating to parking, an appearance ticket must be personally served. Except, an appearance ticket issued for the…
If you are charged with Driving While Intoxicated [VTL 1192(2), (3)] in New York, the criminal defense attorney you choose can be one of the most important decisions of your life. Are you going to retain a “read-em-and-plead-em” hack, the lawyer who handled the closing when you purchased your home,…
The New York State Legislature has acknowledged that CPL140.10(1)(b) prohibits an officer from making an arrest or issuing an appearance ticket for a traffic infraction not committed in his or her presence and has determined that there are only three specific traffic infractions where an officer should be allowed to…
New York’s “move over” law was expanded starting at the beginning of this year (January 1, 2012) making it applicable to not only emergency vehicles that are stopped on the side of the road but now to “hazard vehicles”. The law, which originally went into effect last January originally only…
The Wall Street Journal Reported last week, that criminal charges were being prepared against British Petroleum and/or individuals who worked for British Petroleum and who were supposedly responsible for the oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico last year after the Deep Water Horizon drilling platform caught fire.…
As of 2008, 2 million youths are arrested each year. While the original intent of the juvenile justice systems created throughout the country was to prevent stigmatization and collateral consequences that could naturally flow from an arrest. As experienced criminal defense lawyers know the system is less than perfect in…
The issue of the over criminalization of our society has been the focus of an increasing amount of media coverage and even led to recent hearings in congress. As discussed in the past in this blog (September 27, 2011 blog), the number of federal criminal statutes has increased to over…
As discussed in our previous blog the Greenburgh Drug Court was so out of control that Court officials eventually had to transfer all of the cases out of the Court to protect the rights of those participating in its Drug Court. As it turns out, Drug Courts in general have…
The Office of Court Administration, transferred all of the cases out of the Greenburgh Drug Court this week in an apparent response to complaints made by Tilem & Campbell partner, Peter H. Tilem. The problems began when a client of Tilem & Campbell, unhappy with her representation in the Town…